A decent guitar tuner should be the first piece of equipment you buy!

When I started out playing the guitar, there wasn't much in the way of easy tuners. Other than tuning this way , a pitch whistle or tuning fork was the way to go. Not for me! My ear wasn't trained and a whistle (a small, white plastic and metal contraption with six blow holes) just didn't sound like a guitar string. I never tried the tuning fork method. Electronic guitar tuners hadn't come out in force yet. I couldn't tell an E from an A using the whistle, it all sounded the same.

Over time I graduated to a Korg tuner that's built into my ToneWorks processor pedal. I only use the tuner function at the end of my effects chain (just before the amp). It works pretty good. You pluck each string, the letter lights up and the lights go from orange (out of tune) to green (in tune).

This works decent for a guitar that's already set up. If you change strings, it's best to have another guitar (in tune) or a virtual online tuner to get you started. I don't know about you, but I have a heck of a time locating low E sound-wise.

Different types and styles of guitar tuners...

• Clip on tuner As you would imagine, it clips onto the headstock of your guitar. They are small, inexpensive and somewhat accurate.
• Needle tuners Cheap, wide range of pitch detection, and also somewhat accurate.
• Chromatic tuners Relatively inexpensive with LED read outs and built in mics. These type of tuners are accurate only if the display is accurate. LED and needle types of tuners are very basic. Some of the lesser expensive types use only a few lights to represent 100 cents (one half-step).
• Virtual tuners Online tuners that can help you tune a guitar by ear. Obviously not practical for stage use.
• Strobe tuners For the most part, these guitar tuners are top of the line. Some brands use a spinning disc to display tuning parameters. Some strobe tuners (Peterson) can display within 1/1000th of a semitone. This is what I need! The ones I use now are all over the place. The lights move back and forth between in tune and out of tune. Yeah I know, you get what you pay for!

Use all the methods at your disposal. Get a decent chromatic tuner and supplement it with a virtual tuner. If you want a high end strobe tuner, be prepared to spend $300 and up. I think it's still well worth it whether you're a beginner or pro.

Yeah, now that's the ticket!

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